Install / Update a new php version (7.4.12) on MAC Mojave using Homebrew

Reading time: 6 Minutes

201116-17

A. Check/inspect preinstalled php version on MAC

The macOS Mojave comes with a pre-installed php version.
You can find information about the preinstalled php version for [macOS Mojave 10.14.5 (18F132)]:

Check php version using the commands:

$ php -v
$ which php

➜  ~ 
➜  ~ php -v
PHP 7.1.23 (cli) (built: Feb 22 2019 22:19:32) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
➜  ~ 
➜  ~ which php
/usr/bin/php
➜  ~ 

You can also check about the php.ini file:

$ php -i | grep "php.ini"

➜  ~ php -i | grep "php.ini"
Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc
➜  ~ 

B. Installation of a new php version via brew – Homebrew

Prerequisites and obtaining initial information

We are going to the Homebrew to install the newest php version.

Installation

$ brew install php@7.4

In case, you face error warnings about ‘brew link’, similar to:

Then you have to run:

$ brew link php

Running it, you might also face another issue:

Then you have to create the necessary ‘sbin‘ folder and take its ownership:

$ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin

$ sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/*

➜  ~ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin
➜  ~ ls -l /usr/local                       
total 0
drwxrwxr-x    2 zp  admin    64 Nov 16 11:44 Caskroom
drwxrwxr-x   73 zp  admin  2336 Nov 16 10:09 Cellar
drwxrwxr-x    4 zp  admin   128 Nov 21  2019 Frameworks
drwxrwxr-x   20 zp  admin   640 Nov 16 11:44 Homebrew
drwxrwxr-x  298 zp  admin  9536 Nov 16 11:44 bin
drwxrwxr-x   16 zp  admin   512 Nov 16 10:02 etc
drwxr-xr-x   10 zp  wheel   320 Jan  8  2019 git
drwxrwxr-x  196 zp  admin  6272 Nov 16 00:16 include
drwxrwxr-x  256 zp  admin  8192 Nov 16 10:02 lib
drwxrwxr-x   92 zp  admin  2944 Nov 16 10:54 opt
drwxr-xr-x    3 zp  wheel    96 Jan  8  2019 remotedesktop
drwxrwxr-x    2 zp  admin    64 Nov 16 11:44 sbin
drwxrwxr-x   29 zp  admin   928 Nov 16 10:09 share
drwxrwxr-x    7 zp  admin   224 Nov 15 22:08 var
➜  ~ 
➜  ~ sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/*
➜  ~ 
➜  ~ ls -l /usr/local                    
total 0
drwxrwxr-x    2 zp  admin    64 Nov 16 11:44 Caskroom
drwxrwxr-x   73 zp  admin  2336 Nov 16 10:09 Cellar
drwxrwxr-x    4 zp  admin   128 Nov 21  2019 Frameworks
drwxrwxr-x   20 zp  admin   640 Nov 16 11:44 Homebrew
drwxrwxr-x  298 zp  admin  9536 Nov 16 11:44 bin
drwxrwxr-x   16 zp  admin   512 Nov 16 10:02 etc
drwxr-xr-x   10 zp  wheel   320 Jan  8  2019 git
drwxrwxr-x  196 zp  admin  6272 Nov 16 00:16 include
drwxrwxr-x  256 zp  admin  8192 Nov 16 10:02 lib
drwxrwxr-x   92 zp  admin  2944 Nov 16 10:54 opt
drwxr-xr-x    3 zp  wheel    96 Jan  8  2019 remotedesktop
drwxrwxr-x    2 zp  admin    64 Nov 16 11:44 sbin
drwxrwxr-x   29 zp  admin   928 Nov 16 10:09 share
drwxrwxr-x    7 zp  admin   224 Nov 15 22:08 var
➜  ~ 
➜  ~

After that, you have to run again:

$ brew link php

In order to be sure that there are no any other issues with brew installation you can run:

$ brew doctor

Which should respond with:

➜  ~ 
➜  ~ brew doctor
Your system is ready to brew.
➜  ~ 

Finally, please note the ‘Caveats’ section, towards the end of installation messages:

Those are some important instructions for further steps to be taken, when necessary:

Caveats
To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:
    LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so

    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>

Finally, check DirectoryIndex includes index.php
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html

The php.ini and php-fpm.ini file can be found in:
    /usr/local/etc/php/7.4/

To have launchd start php now and restart at login:
  brew services start php
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  php-fpm
==> Summary
?  /usr/local/Cellar/php/7.4.12: 497 files, 72.2MB
==> Caveats
==> php
To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:
    LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so

    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>

Finally, check DirectoryIndex includes index.php
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html

The php.ini and php-fpm.ini file can be found in:
    /usr/local/etc/php/7.4/

To have launchd start php now and restart at login:
  brew services start php
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  php-fpm
➜  ~ 

For instance: To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:

LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so

    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
    </FilesMatch>

Another step is to ensure (or update) your user profile for bash shell (or the .zshrc, which is the zsh user profile file, in case you use it) includes the /usr/local/bin, and /usr/local/sbin e.g. :

export PATH=$HOME/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:$PATH"

As you might also notice above, the command to start/run the php in your macOS is:

$ brew services start php

Or, if you don’t want/need a background service you can just run:

$ php-fpm

Also if you want to see the running php version, you can just run:

$ php -v

➜  ~ 
➜  ~ brew services start php
==> Tapping homebrew/services
Cloning into '/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-services'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 55, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (55/55), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (54/54), done.
remote: Total 967 (delta 25), reused 12 (delta 1), pack-reused 912
Receiving objects: 100% (967/967), 275.71 KiB | 1.14 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (399/399), done.
Tapped 1 command (39 files, 357.7KB).
==> Successfully started `php` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php)
➜  ~ 
➜  ~ 
➜  ~ php -v
PHP 7.4.12 (cli) (built: Oct 29 2020 18:28:50) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.4.12, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
➜  ~ 
➜  ~

That’s it!
Thank you for reading!

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